Family farms hold the key in post-Brexit planning

“Family farms” was the hot topic during talks of a post-Brexit British agricultural policy with the FFA and TFA.

Farmers for Action (FFA) and the Tenant Farmers Associations (TFA) have come together to highlight the importance of family farms and the demand for the right trade deal for when Britain leaves the EU.

FFA chairman David Handley said Britain needed a new agricultural policy which should focus on the direct needs of family farms and their ‘unique’ challenges.

He said: “Our hard-working family farmers are the backbone of the British countryside.

“They produce great food but they manage the landscape, look after biodiversity, provide employment and feed directly into the rural economy.

“Returns to the sector are under pressure and processors and retailers have an unfair advantage in the supply chain.

“Competition from imported product produced at lower standards is a major threat and new entrants face barriers to entry, whilst older farmers often lack the ability to move into retirement.”

National chairman of the TFA, Stephen Wyrill, said trade was also a ‘key area which we must get right’.

He said: “The UK Government must seek to reach some form of interim arrangement with the European Union which allows reciprocal tariff free trade between the UK and the EU whilst a bespoke trade deal is drawn up between us.

“There is no advantage to either the UK or the EU in having a “cliff edge” to our trade relationship.”